


Eucalyptus

by callboxkat



Category: Sanders Sides, Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Cute, Deaf Character, Fluff, Gum Tree, M/M, Meet-Cute, One Shot, The title may or may not be a pun, Tumblr Prompt, Virgil is gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22556218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callboxkat/pseuds/callboxkat
Summary: A sticky situation leads to a chance encounter.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Moxiety
Comments: 7
Kudos: 66





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a tumblr prompt from a list by @lefaystrent

Virgil groaned in annoyance, tottering somewhat precariously on one leg as he used a twig to scrape at the grayish pink mass stubbornly stuck to the bottom of his shoe. 

“Stupid gum,” he muttered. “Stupid people spitting their gum out on the stupid sidewalk….”

He’d wanted to be home fifteen minutes ago, but he couldn’t just track gum in on his carpet. His landlord would throw a fit. And these were his favorite shoes. So instead of marathoning the newest season of _Queer Eye_ in his sweatpants, he was stuck out here, scraping at the gum with what was left of a twig that had already snapped twice in his hand.

He stabbed at the shoe a few more times with the twig, nearly unplugging the cord of his headphones as he briefly lost his balance. That would have sucked. He couldn’t interrupt Welcome to the Black Parade. It was one of MCR’s best songs!

A piece of the gum finally came off and hung down, still connected by a long, thin string of the stuff. Gross.

He saw someone walking up out of the corner of his eye, to his left. He thought the person said something, but Virgil couldn’t hear it over his music. He moved out of the way, since he was, to be honest, blocking most of the sidewalk. Whoops.

Studiously ignoring the judgmental look he was probably receiving, Virgil abandoned the twig and started to scrape his shoe against the edge of the concrete. Some of the gum came off, so that was a win.

The person, who for some reason hadn’t left, came to stand in front of him. He opened his hands and closed them quickly, like a weird sort of jazz hands; but it was a gesture clearly meant to get his attention.

Virgil finally glanced up and slowly lowered his headphones.

The young man in front of him had curly dark hair, slightly overgrown, tan skin that would make Virgil’s look like paper by contrast, and a pale gray cardigan over a sky blue shirt. He didn’t look annoyed, so that was something. 

“Excuse me?” There was a slightly odd tone in his voice, like an accent Virgil had never heard before; and he brushed the fingertips of one hand over the palm of the other as he spoke.

Virgil blinked and stared at the man’s hands for a second before it clicked. Oh. Duh. This guy was deaf.

“Uh… hi.” Virgil said, panicking internally. He’d never met a deaf person before, and his knowledge of sign language consisted of roughly two-thirds of the alphabet and a handful of swear words. He hoped this guy could read lips. “What’s up?”

To his immense relief, the other man seemed to understand him.

“Sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you knew where I could find a tree.” 

Virgil wondered if he had heard him right. “A tree?” he repeated. “Like. With leaves and branches?” There were trees all over the place. There was one less than ten feet away, in fact. Virgil had used it at one point to keep his balance as he tried to get the stubborn wad of gum off of his shoe.

“Yep!” the man confirmed. “I just moved here. So, new town… new people… new trees.” He smiled at Virgil as he spoke. He had really white teeth, perfect except for an endearingly crooked incisor. “I wanted to get a little tree to put in my new place, so it’s a bit more homey! Do you know anywhere I could get one?”

Virgil, who had been briefly distracted looking at that incisor, jumped a little when he realized the other man was watching him expectantly. He thought for a second. He wasn’t much of a gardener, but he did have a row of succulents and cacti crowding the windowsill of his apartment’s kitchen. He thought he remembered the store where he’d bought those having some small trees.

“I know a place a few blocks from here. It’s down that way.” He pointed. “It’s on the corner of Seventh and… Sanders, I think. It’s got blue doors and a bunch of bushes and garden decorations and stuff out front. You can’t miss it.”

“Oh, thank you so much!” The young man’s caramel eyes shone behind the rounded lenses of his glasses as he bounced on the balls of his feet. He looked like sunshine incarnate. Virgil’s poor gay heart couldn’t take it.

“I can take you there,” Virgil offered impulsively, before the other man could walk away. “So, um… so you don’t get lost.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to bother you—”

“It’s fine,” Virgil promised, quickly finishing scraping as much of the remaining gum off of his shoe as he could. He reached into his pocket and stopped the music that he’d neglected to pause during their conversation. “I mean, if it’s okay with you, obviously.”

“Of course! That’s really nice of you, thank you.”

Virgil nervously fiddled with the frayed ends of his hoodie sleeves as they fell into step next to each other. As they reached the corner of the street, he waved one hand to get the cute guy’s attention.

“I’m Virgil,” he said.

The young man’s smile returned, brighter than before. “I’m Patton!”

An hour later, Virgil and Patton left the gardening store, Patton with a two-foot-tall dwarf eucalyptus, and Virgil with a new contact in his phone and a smile on his face. 

He’d have to learn some more ASL.


	2. Illustration!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have some regrets about drawing all those leaves, but I like how this turned out!


End file.
